Creatures of Habit

Nun too shabby

435 Nepean Hwy, Frankston, Vic 3199

Headed down bayside way (Frankston) this weekend for a long, overdue catchup with a friend. We made our way to the Quest Apartments precinct on Nepean Highway, opposite ‘Maccas’ golden arches (not an option for us!).

Paninis and wraps fresh from the cabinet

Of all the choices available we ended up going with a newish cafe, Creatures of Habit. It’s apparently under new ownership and newly reno’d, but as this was my first visit I can’t compare before and after. The ‘after’ presents a clean, modern, freshness with its white-tiled walls, natural wood furnishings and yellow flashes of colour, matching the menus. Some other customers were admiring the finished works with the manager on duty, giving it the big thumbs up.

Clean and fresh new look

The front counter sports a range of delicious-looking wraps and paninis but, after checking out the menu, as well as what other customers were eating, I decided I was craving the smashed avocado and fetta on toast with poached eggs to go with my coffee. (I am very much a creature of habit, a serial monogamist with a menu; smashed avo and fetta is my current main squeeze.) My companion went for the slightly more substantial main meal of grilled chicken salad and decided it was wine o’clock, opting for a glass of sav blanc.

Poached eggs with smashed avo and fetta on toast

I was ready to devour those eggs when they arrived, and we weren’t made to wait too long. They looked, and were, poached to perfection, the yolk oozing out lovingly over my avo-and-fetta-smeared toast. I must admit though, to a touch of menu envy over my friend’s dish (if I ever cheat on my avo and fetta, it’s invariably with a grilled chicken salad). All the ingredients looked so fresh and appetising, so I snuck a forkful (or three) – got my bit on the side, as it were. Yum and yum! No complaints about the coffee either (Creatures uses Veneziano beans – in my experience, a hard habit to break.)

Grilled chicken salad

Yes, I could easily become a habitual critter if I lived in the area. But I think I'd need to go wild and eat my way through the menu – time to discover my next long-term lunching love interest. 

Lip Cafe

Smackingly Tasty

226 Waterdale Rd Ivanhoe VIC 03079

Cute menu – but be sure to check the specials board

A lovely 20-minute cycle along the Darebin Creek trail from Preston to Ivanhoe and I arrive at Lip Cafe for lunch with a friend. Great service, good coffee and tasty food.

A cafe with a narrow shopfront, it's deceptively spacious, with seating nooks hidden around each corner, and outdoor tables both front (streetside) and back (courtyard). We claimed a pozzie in the back, walking past the bustling kitchen and observing bacon rashers sizzling in the pan as we did so – let the salivating commence.

Erin, our server, was friendly and professional, delivering table water and our coffees promptly, and directing our attention to the day's specials, successfully selling two dishes from the board. Mine was a Vietnamese Beef Salad – I wasn't expecting the rice and egg, to be honest, but it was a well-rounded and tasty dish, the salad elements crisp and plentiful and the rice cooked perfectly so that it didn't become stodgy or heavy. In fact, it was one of those meals where you appreciate the cleverness of the flavour and texture combinations more with each mouthful.

Vietnamese beef salad

My lunch companion went for the Malay Rendang Curry, which she assured me was delicious (though not photogenic, so no photo here, soz). 

The atmosphere was convivial and relaxed, with just the right amount of busy. Erin almost – almost! – convinced us to top off lunch with something sweet, but we resisted. On our way out, though, I clocked fresh-made biscuits baking in the oven – accompanied by more tantalising aromas – and suspect I shall be back on the bike one day soon to sample them.

Waiter station and wall of condiments

Geometric wall patterns

Palm Sunday Walk For Refugees

#justice4refugees

Thrilled that my tweet made it into the Guardian article about the Palm Sunday Walk For Refugees. (For the record, after I took that photo I checked with the young girl and her parents – at least I assume they were her parents – that it was ok.)

Numbers? Mainstream media seems to have a tendency to downplay the figures for these things. I'd estimate 10,000 at the Melbourne rally at least.

  

 

Seeking Asylum in the Lucky Country

Flipboard Magazine

I've created a Flipboard magazine collating news stories, blogs and other material relating to the Australian government's policies and processes regarding asylum seekers.

If you want to stay up to date with the latest news and information on this issue, feel free to subscribe to the magazine, or just check back in here on a regular basis. I'll be flipping new articles into the magazine as I come across them.

View my Flipboard Magazine.

The wrong question

#lightthedark

The Government and the Opposition keep talking about boats, and borders, and people smugglers. They're deliberately and continually missing the point.

The problem has never been the boats. The problem has never been porous borders.

There is a global humanitarian crisis of asylum seekers and refugees. Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Syria...

Men, women and children are fleeing for their lives, and a tiny proportion of them are coming to us and asking for our help – this is the problem.

A humanitarian response to a humanitarian crisis is our challenge.

Orange lifeboats may not sink, but nor do they offer protection from persecution, grant work rights, give access to education. Orange lifeboats do not bring freedom.

By turning people away, pushing people back, locking people up, and denying family reunions, we are adding to the humanitarian crisis, not alleviating it. We are saying die somewhere else, fuck off we're full, you are not welcome here.

Safe pathways to Australia. Not imprisonment, not lifeboats bound for Indonesia. Safe pathways. Safe passage. Safe harbour. This is the only answer.

If you think the answer is Stop the Boats, you're asking the wrong fucking question.

The Life of a Bike

Making merit

The 30-quid special

There I was, sitting outside a pub in Tooting, South London, drinking pints of lager with my new English husband and a couple of friends, when a decidedly dodgy gentleman rides up to us, eyes furtively glancing left and right. 

"Anyone want to buy a bike? I'll take 30 quid for it." 

The husband says to me, "Well, you don't have a bike – we could go cycling together." He gives it a little test spin and decides it's not too bad a bike – a 10-speed for £30 is pretty good going. 

"I really want £50."

"Yeah, but you'll take £30, right?" 

He may have been good at procurement, but sales was not his forte. 

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The final ride up Bell St

Today, 10 years later, I took my ill-gotten but well-loved bike for one final ride. 

I pimped it a little since its 'purchase' – new saddle, tyres, lock (don't want anyone stealing it!), the odd service here and there. When I dragged my English husband back to Melbourne, Australia, the bike came too. Hubby and I enjoyed the occasional cycle together on the weekends, riding the beach trails around St Kilda when we rented in Windsor, and the Merri Creek trail after settling in Preston. Later, when my beloved Toyota Celica died its death, I began riding my bike to and from work, a hefty trek from Preston to Footscray (and back). Took me over an hour each way. I still remember the first time I arrived at Lonely Planet HQ – face red, legs killing me, all of me sweaty – and two others dismounting from their steeds at the same time (one of them the head of my department). 

"First time?"

"Yes." 

"It gets easier."

"It had better." 

A year after having my first child, a child seat was added. Admittedly it carried my bag more often than my son, but he did enjoy a few bike rides with Mummy until my progressing pregnancy with #2 put an end to that.  

Then as a freelancer working from home, I still used the bike when I could, cycling to and from the gym and various places around town on days the kids were in childcare. This 30-quid special really didn't owe me anything.

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Three weeks ago I bought a new bike. It's an e-bike, a pedal-assist electric bike. It's awesome, I love it, but that's for another post…

As I whizzed around from A to B on my new wheels, my 30-quid special was left out in the cold, or rather, in the back shed gathering dust. Until I remembered reading an article in the local Leader some time ago: 

http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/about-council/news-media/news-and-notices/bikes-for-asylum-seekers.html

Asylum seekers living on bridging visas in our community have no work rights; they receive less than Newstart, about $440 a fortnight. After rent and bills, they're left with maybe $3 to $5 a day to live off. When your budget is this tight, even a Metcard for using public transport becomes out of reach, an occasional luxury. A bike becomes a lifeline, free transport to attend immigration appointments, to get to the doctors, to get out into the community.

I contacted Geoff of the Bicycles For Asylum Seekers project, who told me that they could certainly take another bike donation. 

  

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I say goodbye, but it's not this bike's final destination

My final ride on the 30-quid special today, from Preston to Geoff's place in Coburg where the donated bikes are repaired, serviced and distributed to asylum seekers, was a chance to reflect on the life of my bike, and to wonder if this donation helps me to 'make merit'; to absolve myself. (What a sick joke the insistence of our government to refer to asylum seekers as 'illegals' – I'm the one who committed a crime a decade ago, fleeing the Tooting pub with what was obviously a stolen bike. Meanwhile these people fled for their lives and now just want the opportunity to live them.) 

Geoff assures me the 30-quid special will go to a good home. I wish the original owner could know that their lost bike made it halfway round the world and is soon to embark on its third life with someone who will really benefit from it. And I hope another small child gets to sit in that toddler seat. 

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One last look back – Bicycles for Asylum Seekers HQ

To date, Bicycles for Asylum Seekers have collected 238 239 bikes, repaired 79 and distributed 54 bikes and helmets to asylum seekers. Like the Facebook page, Bicycles For Asylum Seekers, to keep up with their progress.

The Boathouse

Salad Days

7 The Boulevard, Moonee Ponds, Vic 3038

Views of the Maribyrnong

The Boathouse rests on the banks of the Maribyrnong in Moonee Ponds. It is a collaboration between Gary Mehigan – judge and co-host of MasterChef Australia – and Steve Bogdani, their vision being "to share life’s simple pleasures done really well". 

Dining on the deck

Some of life's simple pleasures that I enjoy:  

– Long, leisurely lunches with dear friends
– Gossiping over good coffee
– Summertime
– River views
– Friendly service
– Scrumptious food

The Boathouse: tick, tick, tick, tick, tick and tick.

Waiting for the oar d'oeuvres

Mmmm, meatballs

You'd be excused for thinking three ladies at lunch would be all, "Ooh, I'm on a diet, I'll just have a salad." Well, yes, we did order three salads as it happens, but we're not on diets, and thank goodness for that because the portion sizes were more cruise ship than canoe. (In hindsight, the nibbles of olives and chorizo and spicy meatballs were not necessary, though that didn't stop us from polishing those off, too.)

Beets an' egg salad 

Vietnamese chicken coleslaw

If I had to pick a winner, it was the slow-roasted lamb salad with freekah, pomegranate and tahini; goddamn, that lamb was melt-in-the-mouth good. But the Vietnamese coleslaw with chicken, nuts and a wedge of lime was fresh, tasty and crisp, and the beetroot salad – with red quinoa, soft-boiled egg, walnuts and crème fraiche – was as tasty as it was pretty. 

Get your freekah on! Slow-roast lamb salad

Other pluses: the space is vast inside and out, so even when it gets busy you're still sure to find a table (though the car park can fill up). The room to manoeuvre, location on the riverbank, and excellent public playground on one side also means that prams and their owners are plentiful, but do not obstruct or overrun the place. And for parents of little ones who just won't sit still, the Boathouse has a takeaway kiosk facing the playground for all your babycino-on-the-go needs. 

My final verdict for Gary's Boathouse? Nautical but nice. 

Every boathouse needs a boat

Letters to Mr Morrison

Subject:  Children in detention

Date:  22 May 2014 3:04:25 PM AEST

To:  Minister@immi.gov.au

Dear Mr Morrison, 

I am writing to enquire about the current policy to delay processing of asylum claims of a minor until they have reached the age of 18. I refer you to the Amnesty International report, "This is Still Breaking People", published in May 2014. 

"In addition to this, refugee status determination is placed on hold until children attain 18 years of age, resulting in children spending additional time in detention until they receive an assessment of their asylum claims. This policy is punitive and ensures that vulnerable young people remain in immigration detention for longer periods of time than adults. This may deter asylum seekers from self-identifying as a minor in the hopes that their claim may be processed quicker."

Could you please confirm that this is a current policy of the DIBP? If so, what is the justification for forcing minors to endure longer periods of time in detention? Also, is this cruel policy reserved for unaccompanied minors only or is it true for all children in detention? I would also like to ask about the age determination process – what checks and balances are in place to determine if an asylum seeker is a minor? Finally, what sort of education and recreational activities are offered to children in detention? It seems to me that keeping them locked up only further erodes their chances of receiving an adequate education and also their chances of becoming productive members of the society in which they are eventually allowed to settle. 

Your very concerned citizen,  

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Date: 23 April 2014 – another response from DIBP, regarding plans for asylum seekers currently in Australia.  

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Date:  8 April 2014 – response from DIBP regarding media access to detention centres. No mention of the fact that a journalist application fee for Nauru is now $8000 – that's a matter for the Government of Nauru, of course. 

__________

Date:  3 March 2014 – letter received in post. Alas, not from Scott Morrison.

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Subject: Time to go
Date: 19 February 2014 3:19:09 PM AEDT
To: Minister@immi.gov.au

Dear Mr Morrison,

I am writing today to inform you that you have failed your department, the Australian people and the asylum seekers it is your duty to protect, and it's time for you to resign. 

http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/03department.htm

Fact Sheet 3 – The Department of Immigration and Border Protection

The department today

The purpose of the department is to 'build Australia's future through the well-managed entry and movement of people'.

The department is committed to ensuring it is open and accountable, deals fairly and reasonably with clients and has well developed and supported staff.

The department’s key objectives are to:

1. Contribute to Australia's future through managed migration.
2. Protect refugees and contribute to humanitarian policy internationally.
3. Contribute to Australia's security through border management and traveller facilitation.
4. Make fair and reasonable decisions for people entering or leaving Australia, ensuring compliance with Australia's immigration laws and integrity in decision-making.
5. Promote Australian citizenship and a multicultural Australia.

Let's take it from the first line. 

The purpose of the department is to 'build Australia's future through the well-managed entry and movement of people'.

Well-managed entry and movement of people? Oh yes, with the Navy's repeated breaches of Indonesian sovereignty, not to mention the use of lifeboats to facilitate the 'movement of people' away from our shores. Well done.  

The department is committed to ensuring it is open and accountable, deals fairly and reasonably with clients and has well developed and supported staff.

The 'Morrison response' is well known by now: cannot/will not comment because "On-water matter / Operational procedure / Matter for someone else". The transcripts of press conferences with 20 questions from reporters deemed "inaudible", then the cancelling of weekly briefings altogether? Open and accountable my derrière. "Deals fairly and reasonably with clients" – excuse me while I swallow down the bile rising in my throat. "Well developed and supported staff"? Hmm, perhaps they have all gone through puberty and maybe they even get to sit in comfy chairs whilst working for the department – does that make them well developed and supported? Because they certainly don't reply to emails from concerned citizens, nor do they seem capable of taking down phone numbers (http://thehoopla.com.au/im-meshel-want-truth/). Then of course there's today's snafu, "one of the most serious privacy breaches in Australia’s history", allowing personal data of 10,000 asylum seekers to be released online. Forget development and support – the first thing you want to look for regarding your departmental staff is this thing we call competence. 

Finally, I'd like to highlight key objective #2: Protect refugees and contribute to humanitarian policy internationally.

Never mind the grave implications for having released the private, personal details of people seeking asylum, it's time to concede that offshore detention is not only cruel, it does not adequately protect refugees. A man is dead, Mr Morrison, and not by his own hand out of desperation; he was killed. He came to us seeking protection, and he was murdered. Not to mention the other 77 pour souls on Manus who were injured and maimed under your watch. It doesn't matter if it happened within the detention centre grounds or outside of it; you don't get to wash your hands of it because there was a riot, if indeed there was a riot – the mental anguish and protests that the conditions of our offshore detention centres produce are another indictment on your ability to "protect refugees" and "deal fairly and reasonably with clients". Indefinite detention is not fair or reasonable. This extremely serious incident requires a full independent inquiry, nothing less.   

Lastly, "contribute to humanitarian policy internationally"? By being the first and only industrialised nation to subvert the Refugee Convention with regards to asylum seekers who arrive by boat? By locking up unaccompanied minors? By detaining infants? This is the legacy you want to leave, the Australia you wish to promote on the international stage? 

It's time to go, Morrison. 

Yours sincerely,

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Subject: is it true?

Date: 28 January 2014 7:33:08 PM AEDT

To: Minister@immi.gov.au

Good evening Mr Morrison,

I've just been alerted via Facebook to this breaking news by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre:

"Scott Morrison to start the mass round up of asylum seekers in the community for detention & possible deportation. In an unprecedented attack on the rule of law, human rights & our legal system all asylum seekers who (1) have come by boat (2) have their legal cases at the Federal Circuit Court or Humanitarian stage are to be given 6 week visas only. If they fail to leave after 6 weeks they will be detained & face the risk of deportation. This despite the fact they are exercising their legal right to appeal & have a legitimate case on foot or their exercising their right to have the Minister consider their humanitarian claims."

I would like to know, and I believe I have the right to know as a citizen of this country, is this true, Mr Morrison? If it is true, by what justification are you doing this? Be clear on this, Mr Morrison: this is not done in my name.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

P.S. I am also sending a copy of this email to the Hon. David Feeney MP, the member for my electorate. 

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Subject: The not files

Date: 7 January 2014 2:15:46 PM AEDT

To: Minister@immi.gov.au

Dear Mr Morrison,

Don't worry, there are no women's hygiene products embedded in this email. 

I'm just wondering why I'm yet to receive a reply from you or your staff answering any of my recent emails? Well, the first one received a cursory "Your email has been received" notice. Since then? Nada, zip, zilch. Operation Stop the Replies: status complete, sir! 

Still, I guess you've been super busy not holding press conferences, not providing complete transcripts of the pressers you do hold, not answering media questions you don't like, not providing adequate antenatal and postnatal care to women in detention, not processing asylum seeker claims, not being the sort of legal guardian any child would wish for, and not allowing boats to enter Australian waters. Whew, that's an awful lot of stuff you're not doing, Mr Morrison!

How about not allowing Mr Ali Chaudhry to be deported to Pakistan? Could you not do that, do you think? The non-refoulement principle from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/international-migration/glossary/refoulement/: 

"No Contracting State shall expel or return ('refouler') a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion."

Now, there's no need to come back to me (lol!) telling me that Mr Chaudhry's is not a case of refoulement – I know, I read that paragraph too: "... problems with refoulement frequently arise through the fact that its application requires a recognised refugee status." 

Strictly speaking, deporting Mr Chaudhry to Pakistan, where he faces possible imprisonment for being gay, would simply be foulement. And you would be the fouler, Mr Morrison. 

Regards,

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Subject: Why no media?
Date: 19 December 2013 3:57:50 PM AEDT
To: Minister@immi.gov.au
 

Afternoon Mr Morrison,

I read Senator Hanson-Young's heartbreaking article,http://www.smh.com.au/comment/agony-of-children-treated-worse-than-animals-20131218-2zl90.html, today and wondered if there will be a similar story on the TV news tonight? Probably not, though, as there won't be any actual footage from inside the detention centre. So my question, Mr Morrison, is why doesn't the government allow media into any of our detention centres, onshore or off?

Is there an excuse for the blackout? I mean, the asylum seekers are not "on water" once they're in a detention centre, so you can't trot out that ol' chestnut.

Please enlighten me.

Yours sincerely,

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Subject: to reiterate
Date: 5 December 2013 1:28:49 PM AEDT
To: Minister@immi.gov.au

Hi again, Mr Morrison,

I came across this article today, which puts into words how I feel about your treatment of boat

people much better than I can. 

http://thehoopla.com.au/operation-dont-worry/

I do hope you'll take the time to read it.

Yours sincerely,

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From: Minister's Mailbox

Subject: Automatic reply: For the record

Date: 4 December 2013 12:29:04 PM AEDT

Thank you for your correspondence. Your email to the Hon Scott Morrison MP, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection has been received

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Subject: For the record
Date: 4 December 2013 12:28:54 PM AEDT
To: Minister@immi.gov.au

To The Hon Scott Morrison, MP Minister for Immigration and Border Protection

Dear Mr Morrison,

I am writing to tell you that I abhor your treatment of and policies towards asylum seekers who have come to our country by boat, or attempted to come by boat. You can repeat ad nauseam the they arrived illegally – we all know that under the UN Convention, of which we are a signatory, they have committed no crime. Where is your compassion towards people who are desperate to escape war zones and persecution and who come to us for help? This is not about people smugglers; this is about people, Mr Morrison.

I fail to see how non-processing, secretive and open-ended offshore detention, as well as denying due process to the 30,000 asylum seekers currently awaiting determination in our country achieves anything other than inflicting more cruelty and pain on people who have already witnessed and endured who knows what horrors, and – let me say it again – have committed no crime. These policies achieve nothing good. Pandering to the racist and xenophobic in our community is not good for our nation, Mr Morrison.   

And now, saying, 'Ha ha, Labor, because you won't sign off on TPVs it's your fault they're now stuck here without work rights, you're the cruel ones, na na na na na' just doesn't cut it, Mr Morrison. And yes, I was disgusted by the previous government's policies as well. But YOU are in government now. YOU are responsible for continuing the cruel policies and for adding to them. Both major political parties raced to the bottom on this issue but it is YOU who just keeps digging – drilling! – lower and lower and deeper and deeper into the hateful muck.  

Boat people have committed no crime; it's what you are doing, Mr Morrison, that is criminal. 

Yours sincerely,

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